The U.S. government ordered the confinement of Dilley, a detention center for migrant families in Texas, where a measles outbreak threatens to overwhelm local health authorities.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed this weekend that two cases of measles have been reported at the facility, where at least 400 minors are being held, according to local media.
Confinement in Dilley due to measles outbreak
The news of a measles outbreak at Dilley, while horrifying, is unfortunately not a surprise. Reports of medical neglect and children’s malnourishment at Dilley are not new. The administration’s constant decision to prioritize the dehumanization of immigrants over the well being. .. https://t.co/NS9ynqAnjT
– Amnesty International USA (@amnestyusa) February 2, 2026
The government reported that it has already taken measures to “quarantine” and prevent the spread of the virus, “stopping all movement from the center and isolating those who may have been in contact with those infected,” according to DHS statements to The Hill.
The outbreak of measles, one of the most contagious viruses in existence, has sounded the alarm bells of health professionals in Texas.
In a letter to state and local health authorities, the chief podiatrist at the University of Texas at San Antonio, Lee Rogers, called for a public health emergency to be declared.
The situation at the facility “is more serious than a typical outbreak because congregate confinement creates an almost universal risk of exposure,” the doctor noted in the paper.
“This has the potential to quickly overwhelm local healthcare resources.”
Even with modern medical care, the doctor explained, measles causes considerable morbidity.
“One in 5 people who contract the virus require hospitalization and between 1 and 3 out of every 1,000 infected children die from respiratory or neurological complications.”
Authorities in Texas, including Governor Greg Abbott, have yet to comment on this infectious outbreak.
There are about 1,400 detainees
Children and women chanting “let us out” at the Dilley Concentration Center that Trump has set up in Texas, as they apparently wear color-coded jackets.
It’s like a scene from “The Handmaid’s Tale” or 1930s Germany. pic.twitter.com/HhqikVcyri
– Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) January 26, 2026
Dilley is one of only two centers nationwide where the federal government detains entire families of migrants, a practice that was paused for several years during the term of former President Joe Biden (2021-2025) and resumed by U.S. President Donald Trump in his campaign to speed up migrant arrests and deportations.
Some 1,400 migrants, including about 400 minors, are currently being held at the center, according to information released this week by Democratic lawmakers.
The news of the measles outbreak at Dilley came a day after at least a hundred people protested in front of the center to demand an end to the detention of migrant families.
This follows the release of Liam Ramos, a five-year-old boy detained with his father in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and subsequently transferred to the southern state.
The detention of migrant minors in the U.S. increased sharply during the first year of the Trump Administration.
According to the Deportation Data Project, between January and October of this year there was a monthly average of 170 children arrested, compared to 25 during the last 16 months of the Biden Administration.
In total, the arrest of migrants in the US has reached a record level: in January the US held more than 73,000 migrants in detention, the highest number since the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2001, according to data leaked to CBS News.
Last year was the deadliest year in at least two decades for people in ICE custody, with more than 30 deaths, and so far in 2026, at least 3 deaths have already been reported inside migrant detention centers.
With information from EFE
